Specialist CAMHS Practitioner – Under 5s
The closing date is 02 June 2026
Harrow CAMHS are looking for a Specialist CAMHS Practitioner to join our friendly, supportive, and experienced multi‑disciplinary specialist mental health service. We are looking for an enthusiastic and skilled clinician to provide specialist support to the Under 5s and wider team.
Harrow Under 5s CAMHS Service is commissioned to provide brief parent‑infant and parent‑child specialist practitioner support to families with infants and young children. The team is a psychoanalytically informed service.
We are looking for a Specialist CAMHS Practitioner with experience and passion for Under 5s work. You will be part of our successful service and help us to expand our reach and support other Hubs across Harrow, building relationships with families and local stakeholders. You will offer interventions and support to families and consultation to professionals and parents. We accept and encourage applications from people qualifying in Summer 2025.
Main duties of the job
The role involves a creative and passionate approach to service development, and offers the opportunity of being part of a pioneering initiative. We are looking for clinicians with a sound understanding of infant mental health, and who are open to growing and developing in this field. As this is a brand‑new service, we are looking forward to growing and developing together with you.
We are advertising a 0.5 (2.5 days week) band 7 post for the Borough of Harrow. The post holder will be based within the Brent & Harrow CAMHS team and in one of the local Children’s Centres.
The service aims to provide an accessible, destigmatising, culturally sensitive infant/young child mental health perspective through:
* consultation to parents and professionals
* specialist assessment
* 6‑session brief work with Under 5s and their families, using evidence‑based treatment
* teaching and training in infant mental health and early attachment
About us
Central & North West London NHS Foundation Trust is a prominent mental health trust offering high quality children's mental health services across five boroughs of London. The Trust supports staff wellbeing, reflective practice and monthly team reflective groups in CAMHS teams.
CAMHS has a strong multi‑disciplinary approach and thrives on innovative practice to meet the local population needs. The post provides an excellent opportunity to develop skills and knowledge in clinical practice and leadership via regular clinical supervision, being part of Quality Improvement (QI) projects, CPD opportunities as well as multi‑disciplinary working within an experienced wider service of Family Therapists, Psychotherapists, Nurses, Child Wellbeing Practitioners, Psychiatrists and Clinical / Counselling Psychologists.
Job responsibilities
To provide comprehensive specialist assessments, including risk assessment of children, young people and their families/carers referred with moderate, complex and severe mental health problems/behaviours.
To use a range of assessment techniques including observations, standard measures and questionnaires, direct work and interviews with parents and professionals in order to collate information required to complete a functional analysis assessment. To formulate and to be responsible for implementing in partnership with other agencies working with the child/young person a positive behaviour plan/ intervention. To communicate in a sensitive manner assessment outcomes/formulations and positive behaviour support plans. To evaluate the implementation and impact of the intervention. To write confidential behavioural support plans, reports for case conferences, and education that may have wide ranging implications for children, young people and their families. To be available to carry out urgent assessments. Assessments and interventions will be conducted in clinic settings. To provide consultation and appropriate training to other professionals working with the children referred to the service in order to ensure implementation of behavioural support plans. To act as care coordinator for an identified caseload and to be responsible for the coordination of assessment, planning, implementation and evaluation of therapeutic packages of care provided by the multidisciplinary team. To act as care coordinator in accordance with CPA guidelines within the CAMHS community setting. To ensure that the needs of the client group is paramount and be aware of and adhere to NICE Guidelines relating to Child Protection. To ensure acceptable levels of safety (regarding potential verbal and physical aggression from disturbed clients) for self and to advise other colleagues when necessary. To adhere to the lone worker policy and update training in breakaway techniques when necessary. To maintain accurate clinical records in accordance with service standards and to record and maintain patient data in local database systems (System 1) and the trust wide electronic database.
Person Specification
Education, Training and Qualifications
* Professional training and qualification in one of the following professions: - Family systemic therapists, - clinical nurse specialists, - parent‑infant psychotherapists, - health visitors, - psychologists, or - play/art/drama therapists (or equival
* Professional training or post‑qualifying specialisation in Infant/Early Years Mental Health
* Full membership of a regulatory professional body.
* Pre‑qualification training and qualifications in Under 5s, infant observation, VIG training, VIPP training.
Experience
* Experience of mental health assessment and treatment of children and their parents as a member of a multidisciplinary team located in community, primary care, outpatient or inpatient setting
* Experience working with families with problems that reflect the complexity of Tier three CAMHS or equivalent.
* Experience working with families from diverse cultural backgrounds
* Experience of working with Children under 5
* Experience in the use of routine outcome measures (ROMs).
Knowledge and Skills
* Ability to liaise and communicate with a variety of clinical and non‑clinical professionals (team around the child) and agencies.
* Skills in the use of complex methods of mental health assessment, intervention and management.
* Well‑developed skills in the ability to communicate effectively, orally and in writing, complex, highly technical and/or clinically sensitive information to clients, their families, carers and other professional colleagues both within and outside the NHS.
* Knowledge of legislation in relation to children and adolescents including child protection procedures and policies.
* Ability to tolerate anxiety without recourse to premature action whilst appreciating the role of the supervisor.
* Knowledge of NHS, Social Care and Education Structures, National policies and frameworks.
* Skills in providing consultation to other professional groups
* Skills providing psychotherapeutic consultation to parents and carers
* Knowledge of research methodology and outcome research design and ability to critically interpret research findings.
* Knowledge/understanding of child development
Other
* Ability to uphold and promote CNWL's core values (Compassion, Respect, Empowerment and Partnership).
* Ability to form good working relationships with others in a multidisciplinary setting.
* Ability to identify and employ mechanisms of clinical governance as appropriate, to support and maintain clinical practice
* Ability to teach and train others and present psychotherapeutic, systemic and infant mental health perspectives within public, professional and academic settings
Disclosure and Barring Service Check
This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.
Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust
£55,524 to £62,652 a year Pro rata per annum incl. HCAS
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